18 ‒ MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017

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Curtain rises on artistic talent

NATIONAL Gallery of Australia National Summer Art Scholarship 2017 winner, Elizabeth College student Alice Curtain, loves painting the stunning land and seascapes of Tasmania.

“Seascapes have always been a part of my life growing up, we’ve always been a big beach family,” Alice said.

The technique that Alice has applied to her paintings during 2017 has come from a process that evolved over the whole year. Originally Alice liked to paint her seascapes as realistically as she could, taking inspiration from Tasmanian artists such as Leanne Halls and Philip Wolfhagen.

With encouragement fromher college art teachers she explored a new style that ultimately changed the way she viewed her own work.

Starting with a bright base

coat of paint, Alice layers her canvas — in this case a block of wood — with opposite colours. This process does take a while but as time goes on, you can begin to see the shapes of the landscapes and detail that the dots produce.

“I guess I like the fact I cansee it building with each layer of colour. I can really see the landscapes emerging,” Alice said.

Although waiting for the paint to dry is very time consuming, this process is something Alice enjoys about her art and believes that’s all that matters.

She says the hardest partabout making one of her artworks is knowing when it’s done: whether to add another layer to the piece or leave it as it is.

Alice urges other young artists to experiment with their artistic style and try new techniques in their painting.

LUKE O’BRIEN

Last week, in a class I did not sign up forA boy raised his hand in a group discussion and said“Aboriginal people massacred themselves because they didn’tassimilate to white folk”Such ignorance was hard to swallow,Tasted bitter on my tongue.I was shamed.

Another girl raised her handVoice dripping with judgment and added“And like if it wasn’t a law for Aboriginal kids to go to school, none of them would be educated”Her words were hard to swallow,Felt sticky in my mouth.I was shamed.

Not because I am ashamed of who I amBut because I didn’t say anythingBecause the words stuck in my throatLike a body struggling in a straitjacketBecause my lips stayed sealed and my eyes cast down,I was shamed.

Because sometimes I care more about staying invisibleThan I care about changing the worldI was shamedFrom the age of eight, defending my identity to strangersWho believed the pigment in my skinwas just too lightNot black enoughI was shamed.

At the age of 12, kicked out of the local shopBecause a man said I made him feel too uncomfortableMy soul being there was just too much,Too much culture, too much woman,I was shamedAnd I struggle now to understand how I couldBe both too black and not black enough?I was shamed.

See I don’t know where I came fromDon’t know whose freckles are scattered on my backBecause the government stole ourNanna’s babies,Babies the government taught toswallow their language,To hold their tonguesTrained to forget who they were,We were shamed.

Ignite

Blaze Ferguson studied English Writing this year and was moved to write this poem about her experience as an aboriginal student. This work was highly commended in the 2017 Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards.

26 TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2014

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THIS Mercury School Pagewas produced by the mediastudies classes at ElizabethCollege, with thanks to allsponsors. Other schools inter-ested in producing their ownpage are invited to email damian.bester@news.com.auor phone 6230 0736.

Students revisit age of AquariusIT’S that time of the year again, Elizabeth College’s musical production is coming up next month and this year we’re presenting Hair!

Come with us as we tell you thetale of the “tribe”. Set in the Vietnam War era, Hair is about a group of people who are against the war.

Directed by Justan Wagner, thereis a cast of more than 50 students including Lisa Thomas as Sheila, Noah Casey as Berger and Selina Cheers as Ronny, as well as music by our band conducted by Les Johnston.

Big hits from the show include Aquarius, Good Morning Starshine and Let The Sunshine In.

Following Chicago (2012) and Leader of the Pack (2013), Hair is something you don’t want to miss.

“It’s been a great experience!” lead actor Louis Rose (Claude) said when asked about being involved in one of the college’s biggest events of the year. Hair runs from June 13-21, tickets at Centertainment.

Opening door to learningELIZABETH College is open-ing the door to a new world forprimary school students inVanuatu.

Next month will see stu-dents and teachers travel to thecollege’s sister school, NduiNdui Primary in West Ambae,in order to build the region’sfirst library.

The library will be of hugebenefit not only to the 100 stu-dents of the school, but the en-tire West Ambae region.

Many Elizabeth Collegestudents, staff, parents andfriends have contributed to the

project through donations, as-sistance with design and pro-duction as well as use ofequipment to build the library,which will be shipped to Van-uatu partly constructed.

VET Construction studentswith the help of teacher Stew-

art Gordon have been buildingthe library as part of their stud-ies.

Heading the project isHousing and Design TeacherDana Gerke. Mrs Gerke andher daughter Molly, a past stu-dent of Elizabeth College, havebeen inspired by previous visitsto the region.

The Gerke family is build-ing the non-profit Open theDoor Foundation to helpchildren across the South Pa-cific to build a better lifethrough improved educationalservices.

“What’s important for us toacknowledge is that we are

building a sense of communityfrom not only where we are ona one-to-one level, but a senseof community in reaching outand helping others,” MrsGerke said.

“It only takes a smallamount for us to do that. Wedon’t have to leap tall buildingsto help someone else” she said.

In June Mrs Gerke and fel-low teacher Adam Direen willlead 11 students to WestAmbae. where they will con-struct the library and workwith the Ndui Ndui students.

“Development of the libraryhas been an exciting journey sofar,” Mr Direen said

Elizabeth College principalDianne Purnell speaks highlyof the project.

“I am very proud of the sup-port and work being done bythe whole Elizabeth Collegecommunity in helping the stu-dents of West Ambae,” Dr Pur-nell said.

“It is fantastic the way ourstudents are able to help thosewho are less fortunate and as-sist them in their education forthe future.” Dr Purnell said.

To support or get involvedin the Open the Door Foun-dation email dana.gerke@education.tas.gov.au or callthe college on 6235 6555.

JAMIE ROBERTS

Thanks!

LET THE SUNSHINE IN: Students Lisa Thomas and Louis Rose rehearse a scene from the college production of Hair. Picture: JUSTAN WAGNER

Diploma group into 15th year

THE Elizabeth College Ad-vanced Academic Diplomacelebrates its 15th anniversarythis year.

In celebrating this specialachievement, old scholars andECAAD students will be invit-ed to take part in numerousevents and activities.

All ECAAD students from1999-2014 will be invited to acocktail party at the HenryJones Hotel on August 15.

ECAAD offers support tohigh achieving students to en-sure a balanced program ofstudy. It includes communityservice and college representa-tive activities.

“It is just a fun group to bewith and everybody is so love-ly,” ECAAD student RheaWelsh-Hussain said. “I am re-ally lucky to be a part ofECAAD.’”

Students from various eraswill have experienced a differ-ent ECAAD as it has changedover the years.

Past scholars will also getthe chance to attend classesand a formal function will beheld on August 13 from 5-7pmin the college theatre.

An exhibition showing thehistory of the campus will beset up in the college library,where old scholars might find aphoto of themselves.

For further information onalumni activities contact thecollege on 6235 6555.

ELIZABETH BUCHER-EDWARDS

EAGER TO LEARN: Students in West Ambae, Vanuatu,

Elizabeth College inspired resourceful learners

OLIVIA AITCHISON

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RISING TALENT: Artist Alice Curtain in front of her recent exhibition at Elizabeth College.

Paradise foundSTUDENTS from Hobart’s ElizabethCollege couldn’t believe what life waslike for the children in Vanuatu whenthey visited a village in the South Pa-cific nation this year.

“They don’t have running water,showers and there’s no take awaystore!” Elizabeth College assistantprincipal Andrew Kerslake said.

“They have no electricity — theydon’t have much at all. There is onlyone shop in the entire village, yetthey’re very happy and they are a sup-portive community,” Mr Kerslake said.

In the lead up to the visit, the col-lege held a fundraiser to help build an

assembly hall for a local primaryschool in Vanuatu.

This involved the challenge of aworld record for the longest time jug-gling three balloons in the air, withoutdropping. Home Groups had fundrais-ers of their own, hoping to raise $100each. Other fundraising events in-cluded a lamington drive with a cook-ing class making and selling thedelicious cakes.

“Vanuatu was an amazing experi-ence!” one of the participating collegestudents said. “As it was my first inter-national trip, I was a little over-whelmed, but it soon was reallycomfortable and felt like a familiarplace.”

Mr Kerslake said the experience inVanuatu helped the students to betterappreciate some of the things taken forgranted at home, such as showers,power and indoor plumbing.

“It was so nice to enjoy the out-doors and spend days playing andhelping the Amata community andNudi Nudi Primary School,” Mr Ker-slake said.

“It was amazing to see how peopleliving off the land with minimal ad-vanced tools and resources could buildincredible structures and cook amaz-ing food,” he said.

“The surrounding environmentwas an added bonus — simply stun-ning!”

TEAGAN HARRIS-SMITH

Creative collegeCREATIVITY is fostered at ElizabethCollege where students experimentwith a range of writing styles andtechniques. In English Writing theywork together to create scripted dra-mas, poetry, short stories and a wholerange of writing that pushes theboundaries of conventional genres.

In our new world where creativethinking opens future employmentopportunities, enrolment in this sub-ject is increasing statewide. The Uni-versity of Tasmania has pathways forcreative writers who wish to pursue acareer in this area and many of ourstudents hope to move into the filmindustry.

“Writing has given us the oppor-tunity to become a community ofwriters and learn from each other,bettering ourselves through this re-warding outlet,” said Ashlee, one ofthis year’s English Writing students.

on completing your exams and assessments. Thank you for your energy and enthusiasm this year. We look forward to welcoming new and returning students in 2018. From all Elizabeth College staff.

CONGRATULATIONSTO ALL ELIZABETH COLLEGE STUDENTS

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